‘Goodnight Moon’ has been a bedtime favourite for decades and has sold over 48 million copies worldwide. It was one of the first children’s books to move away from a plot-driven narrative and instead focus on everyday items and daily life. This genre-defining book is catered for young audiences; it turns out small children care more about seeing familiar objects in books than fantasy characters and worlds.
AJ still isn’t sleeping any better but we’ve established a good bedtime routine with Goodnight Moon as a cornerstone. Because I’ve been reading it every night to him in Cantonese, I reckon I could probably recite it from memory.
How I Made this Translation
Just like my translation of ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’, I used this reading from Cantonese Mommy as a guide. I watched the video on a slower speed and had Bing Translator and Pleco ready for any unfamiliar words. I found transcribing this video a lot quicker than with ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’. Maybe it’s a sign my comprehension skills are getting better?
My book translations will always be in written Cantonese i.e. 粵文 jyut6 man4 because my goal is to get AJ speaking the language. By having materials that are read how one would speak is incredibly beneficial for language acquisition. If I was already fluent in Cantonese, then perhaps I would be focussing more effort into teaching AJ to read and write in Standard Written Chinese (SWC). But I first need to teach myself the whole language then figure out how to teach AJ how to speak it- I don’t need to add teaching SWC to my work load!
Translation Printable
This text of this A4 printable fits neatly in my board book. However, a book that has be in publication for so long will have been printed in many different shapes and sizes so you might need to adjust your printer settings to ensure you get the size you require. For further instructions, see my post describing how I create my own Cantonese books.
What book would you like me to translate next? Do you stick to one bedtime book or mix it up? Let me know below!
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Mama Bear Cantonese 